John Wayne

The show: “Stones in His Pocket” at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven. What is it?: When a Hollywood film company descends on a rural Irish village and takes over the town, locals sign on as extras and get swept up in the movie-making dream machine. The twist here is that all the characters in the story are performed by two actors — here well-played by Euan MortonÖ and Fred ArsenaultÖ as Charlie and Jake. The two natives who see their proximity to celebrity as a lift — and possible escape — from their dead-end lives. Sounds like fun: It is, to a point. But the idea of actors dazzling audiences by performing multiple, whimsical, gender-bending...

While it's true that there's only so much anyone can say about the Oscars, remember it can be said again and again. As a reader (and writer), I know by now that there are 10 abiding Oscar stories. Here they are, all in a single article:
The history
...

Land. Sea. Land. Sea.
Ferry. Road. Ferry. Road
Fish for lunch. Fish for dinner. Pancakes for breakfast (yes, you can have fish if you really must).
A looping trip west out of Vancouver, British Columbia, means a lot of water and mountains that get in...

MOAB, Utah — The doorknob had smashed a sizable hole in the wall of our room at the Apache Motel. The rusty bathroom ceiling fan made a harsh scraping sound, and the industrial carpet sported several suspicious stains.We loved the place.The neon sign at...

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Like most of the people soaking up Sunday brunch at the Parker Palm Springs hotel, the hungover-looking dude in slacker attire with the fashionista girlfriend looked as if he had just rolled out of bed at 10:30 a.m. He also looked...

The iconic 100-year-old steam engine that rested alongside Church Street Station for decades has made its way to its new home – the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum.
The switch engine was built around 1911 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia...

To those who think U.S. 50 is primarily a road that spans Maryland's bucolic Eastern Shore, Christopher Corbett begs to differ.
Corbett, an award-winning journalist and author, spent countless hours traversing the dusty stretch of Old U.S. 50 that...

In his easygoing, candid and altogether charming autobiography, or, as he calls it, "Life Itself: A Memoir," Roger Ebert fails to mention me: The nights he and I had many drinks on the porch of his house on Dickens Street and elsewhere, the...

In a world that's constantly changing, it's good to know that some things basically stay the same — for example, the movie western. It's a genre that hasn't changed much in the last century of cinematic history: There are good guys and there are bad guys,...

BIRTHDAY GUY: Actor Brian Van Holt was born in Waukegan, Ill., on this date in 1969. This birthday guy currently appears in the recurring role of Bobby Cobb on the series "Cougar Town." Holt previously starred in the TV shows "John From...

James Arness, the towering actor best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon, the strong and commanding symbol of frontier justice on the landmark TV western series "Gunsmoke," died Friday. He was 88.
Arness died of natural causes at his home...

With more than 4 million people visiting Yosemite National Park last year — and that number expected to increase this year — it's no wonder lodging inside the park is snatched up quickly.
"We typically sell out during the summer season,"...

A La Cañada Flintridge house once owned by Academy Award-winning actor Victor McLaglen has come on the market at $4.95 million.
McLaglen and his family named the home Fairhaven and lived there from 1929 to '44. The 1.9-acre compound...

The brokenhearted still wrestle with the pain 10 years later. It stings in so many different ways: a mother overcome by grief after burying a son. A best friend mustering the strength to rev the engines again because quitting would sully the man's...

— Jeff Bridges, who won the lead actor Oscar last year for "Crazy Heart," is up in the same category for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit." Only two actors have won Academy Awards in the lead actor category two years in...